Ulcerative Colitis and Acid Reflux

Postscript to my OP above: This is what I read in another site:

Acid reflux can be caused by either excess stomach acid – or by damage to the valve that separates the stomach from the oesophagus. A medical condition called a hiatus hernia where the top of the stomach is within the diaphragm can also cause/worsen acid reflux. In Ulcerative Colitis acid reflux is often experienced during steroid taper/reduction. This is possibly caused by the adrenal glands re-starting steroid production – a process which is strongly linked to the chemical pathway that creates stomach acid. It may also be due to inflammation of the oesophagus which was hidden by the steroids.

Hi limeleaf. I have ibs-d, colitis, bile acid malabsorption & fructose malabsorption, all controlled relatively well with meds & diet. I am on esomeprazole 20mg every morning. if i dont take them i get terrible acid reflux at night whilst asleep - which wakes me up choking & burns my oesophagus. i have tried going every other day, but i cant do without them-the nighttime reflux will happen on the 2nd night. i personally dont feel i get any side efffects from them - they are better than omeprazole- these are the gastroenterologists preferred choice (esomeprazole) according to my gp - dont know what the difference is. when you say you dont get on with them - you didnt say in what way. all i would say to you is if you get repeated reflux that burns your throat, this definately needs treating - it can damage your oesophagus if not treated, so i wouldnt dismiss the use of ppi's completely. i have been on them about 3.5yrs, originally on 40mg daily to treat oesophagitis caused by nighttime reflux. i was told to stay on them as without i get repeated nighttime reflux, so i now take 20mg daily to prevent this. hope this helps x

.......also, maybe if they do something about your hernia, that might stop the reflux altogether, & so remove the need for medication....just an afterthought. x

Than you looloo. I was tried on omeprazole and lansoprazole - never the one you take. Both seemed to cause problems further down in the digestive system. It seemed logical to me that a drug which restricted gastric acid meant that food wasn’t being digested properly and I put the lower GI probelms down to the PPIs. I was also getting a lot of aches and tiredness too.

Now, a few years on, I am beginning to think that what was diagnosed as hiatus hernia and IBS (although no-one at that stage had looked inside my colon) - I’d just had a gastroscopy - I am beginning to think that I was in the early stages of IBD. I used to get occasional diarrhea and bleeding for a few days and put it down to an upset tum and hemerroids but the colononscopy i had last year apparently didn’t show any evidence of me ever having had the latter.

Once I changed my diet to gluten free and eliminated other trigger foods my whole system settled down. No more reflux, not more low GI problems. Until last year when a combination of other health problems which made me inactive and lot of stress may have been behind the IBD flare. I’m wondering if, for the last few years my immune system was starting to weaken but as I was otherwise fit, very active and healthy I was managing to fight it off but events of last year caused things to go wrong.

I’m hoping this reflux incident is an isolated one. I have woken up today feeling better. I said in the OP that I couldn’t think of what I may have eaten to trigger the acid but now I recall I had sucked a few menthol sweets earlier in the days as my throat was feeling scratchy and wondering if the sugar was the cause.

Hi limeleaf. If your reflux is not constant, try drinking quarter to half a pint of the 1% fat milk (orange lid). milk is a food in liquid form but also helps to neutralise acid naturally. i often use it as my breakfast (half a pint) as my conditions make me feel mild to moderately nauseus in the morning, but i can tolerate milk & it soothes my tummy. xx